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by Dazzledfirestar



Category: Marvel 616, Secret Avengers
Genre: AIM is abusing science, Accidental Baby Acquisition, Fluff, Kid Fic, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-07
Updated: 2015-12-07
Packaged: 2018-05-05 11:20:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5373446
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dazzledfirestar/pseuds/Dazzledfirestar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A raid on an AIM base sees the Secret Avengers dealing with issues they never really considered in their lives. Especially when Nick, Phil and Clint have just gotten their relationship stuff in order!</p>
            </blockquote>





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**Author's Note:**

  * For [ladydeathfaerie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ladydeathfaerie/gifts).



> Written for Ladydeathfaerie for 2015's Lump of Coul fest.
> 
> Hope you enjoy it bb! <3

The base wasn’t much from the outside. Clint didn’t see what could possibly be so scary about the place. Just your average vaguely creepy warehouse. The intel was spotty on what they were doing in there but it was AIM so they could have been growing goo monsters or more MODOKs or a death ray and he wasn’t a fan of letting that keep on keeping on even if SHIELD hadn’t asked him—okay Maria told the Secret Avengers to get at it, not just him but still!—to look into it. And after AIM had been hitting the Avengers and SHIELD harder and harder lately, stealing tech and files and everything else. Well, he’d be happy to see this little shop shut down.

“Nat, what can you see?” He tapped at the comm. unit and waited. Usually he wouldn’t bug her during a job but she had been too quiet for too long. Too long and too quiet was never good with Nat. 

“We need to move in. Fury? We need to be aware that there are children on site.”

Clint actually heard the intake of breath on the line. He did love that they’d managed to wire the comms through his hearing aid. It did make these things so much easier. Phil had pushed for it like a champ and Nick had backed him up. He kind of loved them for it. Y’know, more than usual. But that wasn’t the line of thinking he needed to follow down at the moment.

“Children? Are they…” Clint heard the edge in Nick’s voice too. That wasn’t good. “How many?”

“I only see two. Infants. They can’t be more than a few months old.”

“Since when does AIM have child care services? Does SHIELD do that?”

“Not now, Hawkeye.” Nick nearly growled. “Okay, let’s move in. We’ll take the kids back to SHIELD when we get this cleared out.”

Clint frowned a little. Poor little guys—girls? He guessed they’d find out when they picked them up—no kid deserved whatever AIM had to do with kids. That thought propelled him into action as the three of them took the base. He’d figure out the kid thing later. They all would. Get all the information and get them back to their parent.

Easy as pie.

~*~*~*~*~

Why wasn’t anything every easy? Phil Coulson looked at the reports for the fifth time in the last fifteen minutes. “This shouldn’t even be possible.”

“It’s AIM. It’s what they do.” Maria sighed and sat back. “That explains the files and the samples—“

“You never said they took samples.”

“What would you have said if I told you they’d stolen your and your boyfriends’ genetics?” She raised an eyebrow. “I was going to tell you when we got them back.”

“Director—“

“It’s not just about you, Phil. They took mine and Natasha’s and Jessica’s. Mockingbird, Taskmaster, and Col. Rhodes too. Not even counting the rest of the metahuman community.”

“But I’m not—“ he sighed. “And you’re not…” he rubbed at the bridge of his nose. “I get it with the rest of them but us?”

“I don’t know, Phil. I don’t really get off on figuring out the motivations of mad scientists. I work with enough of them. Maybe Stark and Banner can enlighten us on the subject some time.”

“I’d really rather not have that conversation if it’s all the same to you.”

“Yeah, me either.”

“So the babies…” He was trying to think of them as any other children that fell into SHIELD’s sphere of influence but that was getting harder and harder as he went through the files. Designer babies. With multiple parents—well, MORE multiple parents—was just the strangest thing about it all. Even if his genes hadn’t been involved he was not sure he’d know how to process it.

Let alone tell Clint and Nick that they were all now, for better or worse, parents.

He really wasn’t sure how that was going to go over. And they’d only just figured all of this stuff out. When he and Nick had gotten back from their long over do vacation—he was still dreaming of surfing and sunshine and warm sand. They had to go back. And take Clint with them—they’d worked out things between the two of them. And everyone seemed to be aware. So much so that Jessica had started calling the time off their “honeymoon”. It wasn’t far from the truth. They’d been in love and too stupid to say anything for far too long. Things had been comfortable before, and that hadn’t changed because they’d admitted how much they meant to each other either. It was easy. Simple. And oh so right.

But there was this thing. This thing he’d been completely unwilling to look at while he was pining—yes pining. He could admit that now—for Nick. The thing was, he was attracted to Clint too. Very much so. But when he brought that up with Nick, he’d just smiled and mentioned that he and Clint had maybe sort of had a thing now and then. Kind of the same way the two of them had hooked up before SHIELD and just never talked about it. Phil had blushed and stammered something about how he had no right to feel anything about Nick’s partners before they’d talked everything out. And he could remember the words that left Nick’s mouth at that moment.

_Cheese, stop being a dork. I think he’s into you too._

So they had brought it up. Awkwardly. Very awkwardly. Over beers and burgers one night after they’d taken out a… well, it was so deeply classified, he wasn’t sure he could think about it without breaking some kind of regulation. So they went out after a mission and Phil had just sort of blurted it out.

It was one of his best awkward moments ever.

They’d worked a lot of it out over the last few months and sure it was still kind of a mess sometimes but those times were becoming less and less likely. They’d worked out how they all fit together and they were all getting better about talking shit out. That had been the hardest part. None of them were particular good at that part of a relationship even when it was only two people but they were figuring it out. Phil was pretty proud of that.

But this baby thing? This was going to be a test at the very least.

“Have you thought about what you want to do with this?” Maria’s voice cut across his mind.

Phil shrugged. “Can’t really think about that too much until I talk to Nick and Clint, right? It’s sort of a group decision.”

“Do you want to see the baby?”

Phil swallowed. “I… not yet?” He felt like a coward saying that. This child wasn’t to blame for the circumstances they were found in. “I want to talk to them first. Maybe we could do it all together if we decide to… if we—“ he sighed. “I want to, but not yet.”

Maria smiled. “Yeah, I get it. Harder to stay objective if you go in there and they put that little bundle in your arms, right?”

“Exactly.”

“So you should go talk to them sooner rather than later.” She raised an eyebrow. “If you’re going to do this, I hear bonding with infants is integral.”

“Director…” he managed a small smirk. “You’re kind of an asshole sometimes, you know that?”

“That’s why I’m good at my job.” She smirked back.

“Yes it is.” Phil sighed and sat back. “Okay. I’m on it.”

“You’re not moving.”

“Cut me a little slack here. I’m a new father.”

“That sounds like a decision, Phil.”

“Yeah, I know.”

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He managed to avoid the entire subject through dinner—burgers again. It was starting to feel like a tradition—and an extra round of beers. Then Nick asked the inevitable question.

“Did you guys manage to track down the parents?”

Phil almost choked on a french fry and he hurried to wash it down with more beer. He’d need a little extra courage for this. Even if it was the liquid kind. “It wasn’t as hard as you’d think, actually.”

“That’s good.” Clint managed a tired smile, sitting back in his seat. “I’d hate to see them sucked into the system because AIM fucked everything up for them.”

“Well…” Phil felt his cheeks light up a little and he took another drink from his mug. “It’s not really that simple.”

Both men blinked at him for a moment, clearly waiting for him to continue. When he didn’t, Nick pushed a little. “What’s not simple about it, Cheese?”

“Well…” he dragged the word out as long as he could manage. Anything to stall this conversation, really. He wasn’t sure which possibility made him more nervous. He hated the idea of leaving this child that was part of all three of them to a system that seemed to fail more than succeed. He thought Clint might be on the same page and he knew how Nick felt about family. They’d been friends long enough for that. But the idea of having a child. Of raising a child between the three of them? That seemed more than a little surreal. He didn’t know anything about kids. He wasn’t sure his partners did either. Could they pull it off? He had no idea. “The thing is, the parents aren’t aware of the babies’ existence. AIM’s been stealing samples and information and… um…” he sighed. “They were growing babies. The two we found were the first batch.”

“That is…” Nick’s eye went wide. “That’s so fucked up.”

“Yeah. So we’re going to have to contact the parents in this case. Three per baby.”

“Three?” Clint nearly spit his beer out. “That’s even more fucked up.”

“Well, AIM’s done stranger things than gene splicing over the years.” Phil took another sip of his beer. “The parents will have to decide what to do. Whether they want to raise the babies or…” he sighed and shook his head. “It’s a shit situation.”

Nick watched him for a moment as they fell silent. He chewed thoughtfully on a fry and Phil knew… he _knew_ Nick was figuring it out. “That’s not ‘It’s classified’ avoidance, Cheese.” He said softly.

“Yeah… well…” he sighed looking over at Clint. “That raid a couple months ago? When AIM ripped off those files and—“

“Oh holy shit…” Clint’s eyes went wide as he put it together. “You’re not—we’re not…”

“I am.” Phil sighed. “And we are.”

He was pretty sure this was the heaviest silence in history. Phil felt he had to break it. He couldn’t just sit there staring into his beer with the Sword of Damocles hanging over their collective heads. “I didn’t want some random SHIELD flunky dropping a file on your desks for this. Hill and Morse and Romanoff are thinking this over too. Maybe it’s a little easier when they’re not involved with each other…”

“Bobbi and Nat are…” Clint muttered softly, like he felt they had to have all the information on that front since there was so little real intel on their current situation. “I mean… that might make it worse but… they are.”

“Jesus…” It was the first word out of Nick and it was in a tone Phil hadn’t heard since they’d joined SHIELD. It was the same tone he’d let out when his mom had died. That said more than he probably meant it to.

“Nick…” Phil reached over and put his hand on the man’s knee. “We have some time to work this out and decide what to do…”

“I can’t let them… I can’t abandon my kid.” Clint looked up at them. “I know we’re still working this out and it’s sudden and all kinds of fucked up because… well, AIM, right? But I can’t do that.”

“Me either.” Nick met Clint’s eyes. Phil couldn’t be sure. Phil’d had a pretty okay relationship with his father but he knew that wasn’t the case with either of the men he cared about. “So I guess we’re doing this.”

Phil nodded. “I don’t think… I mean, I’ve been going over this logistically since Director Hill told me and…” He sighed. “I don’t want to let this kid down, you know?”

Nick smiled at him. “Yeah, Cheese. I know.”

“So… we’re gonna be dads.” Clint laughed even though it was a tight and nervous sound there was a lot of joy there too. “I guess we should have another round while we can.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Nick laughed too. There was more relief there than anything else and that alone told Phil this was going to work out in the end. “So what do we know about the kid?”

Phil smiled, digging in his bag. “Not a whole lot. She’s healthy.” That was the important part. “I haven’t been down to see her yet.” Now that he knew they were going to do this, he felt more comfortable talking about the baby as a person instead of just ‘the baby’. He looked up again, catching a small look of concern on Nick’s face. “What is it?”

“The serum.” He said softly. “They need to check her blood against mine… just, she needs to know how that’s going to work straight off the bat if—“ Clint reached over and put his hand on Phil’s that was still on Nick’s knee. They’d had this conversation before. Nick knew that, barring an incredible act of violence, he’d out live them both and how, their daughter would be faced with the same problem, if she had inherited the Infinity Serum the way Nick had from his father. Thinking about it Phil was pretty sure that was the kind of thing AIM would have made sure got passed down. 

“They haven’t done that test yet.” Phil said softy. “But we’ll make sure.”

Nick nodded. “Didn’t mean to bring the party down.” He chuckled. “Guess I just don’t want her finding out years later…”

“No, that makes sense.” Clint agreed. “She’s got to know that stuff. No secrets.”

Phil raised an eyebrow at that. He hadn’t considered how they’d have to explain how she had three fathers and… wow; that could get ugly if they didn’t tell her themselves. But he wasn’t sure they’d feel the same about that part as he did. “Even about how she was born?”

“Especially about that.” Clint nodded. “I mean it’s weird but we’re going to deal with weird anyway. Three dads and all.”

Phil sighed. “This isn’t going to be as easy as saying yes, is it?”

“Not a chance.” Clint smiled. “But I’m guessing it’s the good kind of not easy. Otherwise people wouldn’t keep having babies, right?”

That got a laugh from everyone at the table and they ordered another round. It only seemed right to celebrate impending fatherhood for all of them.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

The SHIELD med lab wasn’t really the place he’d expected to meet his child for the first time. Well, no… no, one upon a time, that had been a possibility with Bobbi but that was so far at the back of his mind at that moment, that it barely even registered.

What got his focus completely was the baby Phil was holding. She was so tiny—two months old, the doctors had figured—and it was hard not to see Nick and Phil in her.

He took a step closer as the baby blinked her eyes open and his breath caught. “Oh my God…” It was surreal, seeing his own eyes in the face of this tiny little bundle of Nick and Phil. “She’s… she’s perfect.” He said softly, almost breathless with the realization.

“And she’s ours.” Nick smiled at him. He looked more uncertain than he’d ever see the man before as Phil passed her over to him. He was so careful and Clint couldn’t quite stop himself from smiling a little wider at Phil as Nick slowly settled into holding their daughter. He was still getting used to that word and it seemed in that moment, the weight of it was on all three of them. 

Phil reached out tentatively, putting his hand on her head. “As soon as they clear her, we can take her home.”

Clint nodded. He’d spent a lot of time putting the spare room in Phil and Nick’s—no, it was all of theirs now, even if he was keeping the building in Bed-Stuy, he needed to be there for the baby and all that important dad stuff—in some kind of nursery order. The crib was ready and the changing table, rocking chair, all of it all set for a brand new baby girl. They’d even had one of the SHIELD techs in the make sure the window in the room wouldn’t be an easy target. What she’d done to it, he wasn’t sure, but you couldn’t see the window from the outside anymore. Whatever it was, it was cool and bullet proof and that was the important part.

“You want to hold her?” Nick’s voice cut through his thoughts and he nodded before he thought about it. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was doing and he could hear the nurses and doctors giving tips. Support her head and all that. He knew that. He’d watched enough bad TV to know that much. But as Nick put her in his arms, he wasn’t sure if that was going to be enough if instinct didn’t take over.

He had never been more thankful that it did in his life. “Hey, kiddo.” He smiled down at her and he swore—parenting books and doctors be damned—that she smiled back. All those fears he’d been going over and over and over again seemed to lessen and increase at the same time as he held her. This perfect little angel, no matter how she’d come into the world, was theirs to protect and teach and play with and pictures of tea parties and maybe…--maybe an archery lesson or two if she wanted?--it all flew through his mind as he held her.

He looked up at Nick and Phil and smiled. They were going to be the best family a kid could hope for. He saw the same determination to that in their eyes as he thought was probably in his. “So… what are we going to call her?”

~*~*~*~*~

Coming in at 3am used to be a pretty regular thing in their apartment. Usually it was a battle to stay quiet and not wake Nick or Clint or Phil depending on who had gotten home earlier and who had managed to fall asleep before they were all home.

Nick was still doing the silent dance of not waking anybody up as he put his bag down by the door. A quick check of the bedroom told him all he needed to know. Clint was passed out, sprawled across the sheets like he hadn’t slept in days. They’d all made jokes that SHIELD and the Army and the Avengers had been better training for having a baby than anything else they could come up with. The weird hours without sleep weren’t that weird to them.

And he smiled, knowing where he’d find Phil.

Nia Edith Julie Barton-Fury-Coulson was not a morning person. In fact she’d been very fond of keeping her fathers up all night. Not crying or being particularly difficult. She just didn’t want to be put down. So he knew Phil would be up with her in her room, likely rocking in the chair or walking her back and forth. This was one of those rare nights though, and he found them standing in front of the window—bullet proof, and nearly invisible from the outside. They weren’t taking chances. She was a daughter of SHIELD and the Avengers after all.—with Phil humming softly.

Nick walked in, putting a hand on Phil’s shoulder and enjoy the small blush on his cheeks at being caught humming. “I can take the next shift.” He said softly, putting his hand on the top of Nia’s head. “Get some sleep. If you can get Clint to share the bed.” He chuckled softly.

“No, I’m good. Really. You need some rest too.” Phil smiled as Nia giggled softly.

Nick sighed. “Maybe, but I need some quality cuddle time too.” 

“From her or me?”

“Both. All three really, but Clint looks like he needs the sleep.” He smiled, taking Nia from Phil’s arms and kissing the top of her head. “Anything I should be aware of.”

“She started doing quantum physics yesterday.”

“Really? Good girl!” He bounced her lightly. They’d turned it into a running gag when any of them came back. So far, while any of them had been gone, she’d started sticking to the ceiling, flying and now quantum mechanics. They’d share all the actual happenings of course but first came the super powers. “Time to give Richards a run for his money, right?”

She giggled again and Phil gave them both a look that Nick knew meant he was being nostalgic. “This suits you.” Phil said softly.

“It suits all of us.” Nick smiled and leaned in, kissing his lips. 

“You guys are saps.” They both turned to see Clint in the doorway with a sleepy smile on his face. “They’re saps, aren’t they Nia?” He stepped closer, kissing Nia’s head, then Nick, then Phil. “Welcome home.”

Nick smiled. Home. It meant something different now than he thought it would. Home meant 3am feedings and sleepless nights and diapers and eventually tea parties and recitals and sports and maybe the occasional PTA meeting. Home meant balancing saving the world with having a good reason to save the world.

And he knew all of them felt that shift in their lives. He knew all three of them had had to figure out what that meant.

But home… home was worth it.


End file.
